The Interaction of the Category of Modality and the Information Structure of a Sentence

Aim. To explore the issue of interrelation between the category of modality and the information structure of a sentence.
Methodology. The examples selected from the National Corpus of the Russian Language and the German corpus DWDS served as the research materials. During the research, descriptive, transformational, and comparative methods were applied. In total, more than 200 examples were selected and analysed.
Results. Various approaches to interpretation of the information structure of the sentence are considered. The variant of a three-component information structure, including a theme, rheme and pheme, proposed by the French Germanist J.-M. Zemb, is analysed. It is shown that linguistic means of representing the pheme include modal / parenthetical words / particles with the semantics of emotivity, epistemic modality or inferential evidentiality. It is determined that in utterances containing a pheme the realisation of various types of deixis takes place. 
Research implications. The theoretical significance of the research is determined by the fact that it makes a certain contribution to the development of the issue of the influence of grammatical categories on the information structure of the sentence. The practical significance lies in the fact that the obtained results can be used during comparative typology of the German and Russian languages.

1. Averina, A. V. (2023). Syntactically Independent Sentences without Illocutionary Force. In: MGIMO Journal of Language Research and Teaching, 9 (2), 8–20. DOI: 10.24833/2410-2423-2023-2-35-8-20 (in Russ.).

2. Averina, A. V. (2025). Types of Meanings of the Subjunctive Mood in German. In: Rema, 2, 9–41. DOI: 10.31862/2500-2953-2025-2-9-41 (in Russ.).

3. Adamets, P. (1966). Word Order in Modern Russian. Praha: Academia publ. (in Russ.).

4. Balygina, E. A., Ermolova, T. V. & Krukovskaya, O. A. (2023). Features of Expressing the Category of Focus in a Split Sentence of the English Language. In: Language and Text, 10 (4), 30–39. DOI: 10.17759/langt.2023100403 (in Russ.).

5. Vodyasova, L. P. & Ivanova, G. S. (2022). Non-Actualised and Actualized Sentence Members in the Modern Erzya Language. In: Bulletin of Ugric Studies, 12 (4), 607–615. DOI: 10.30624/2220-4156-2022-12-4-607-615 (in Russ.).

6. Grigorieva, O. I. (2023). Medieval Grammar of Modists. In: Language Discourse in Social Practice: Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference. Tver: Tver State University publ., pp. 145–150 (in Russ.).

7. Kazantseva, Yu. M. (2024). Typological Dimension of the Category of Voice in Modern German. In: Vestnik of Moscow State Linguistic University. Humanities, 7, 59–66 (in Russ.).

8. Kovtunova, I. I. (1976). Modern Russian Language. Word Order, Actual Sentence Division. Moscow: Prosveshchenie publ. (in Russ.).

9. Paducheva, E. V. (2016). Communicative Structure and Linear-Accentual Transformations of a Sentence (Based on the Russian Language). In: Clause Architecture in Parametric Models: Syntax, Information Structure, Word Order. Moscow: YASK publ., pp. 25–75 (in Russ.).

10. Tarlanov, Z. K. (2023). Person, Mood, and Sentence as Interrelated Linguistic Categories. In: Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University, 45 (4), 48–53. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2023.908 (in Russ.).

11. Tokmashev, D. M. (2020). Information Structure of a Simple Sentence in the Teleut Language: Towards the Formulation of the Problem. In: Bulletin of Kemerovo State University, 22 (1), 268–277. DOI: 10.21603/2078-8975-2020-22-1-268-277 (in Russ.).

12. Zimmerling, A. V. (2016). Linear-Accentual Grammar and Communicatively Undivided Sentences in Russian. In: Clause Architecture in Parametric Models: Syntax, Information Structure, Word Order. Moscow: YASK publ., pp. 76–103 (in Russ.).

13. Sharandin, A. L. (2024). Actual Sentence Division in the Context of Professor S. G. Ilyenko's Ideas on the Integration of Syntax and Communication. In: Word. Dictionary. Literature. On the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education Sakmara Georgievna Ilyenko. St. Petersburg: A. I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University publ., pp. 113–121 (in Russ.).

14. Yakunina, Yu. A. (2024). On the Category of Syntactic Tense in Constructions with the Infinitive. In: Corpus of Modern Models and Codes of the Russian Language. Moscow: Moscow State Pedagogical University publ., pp. 197–202 (in Russ.).

15. Yanko, T. E. (2010). Contrast Intonation, or Minimal Pairs of Phrasal Prosody. In: In the Space of Language and Culture. Sound, Sign, Meaning: A Collection of Articles in Honor of the 70th Anniversary of V. A. Vinogradov. Moscow: Languages of Slavic Cultures publ., pp. 136–148 (in Russ.).

16. Yanko, T. E. (2025). Pragmatics and Prosody: Focus on Sounding Speech as a Pincer of Linguistic Pragmatics. In: Slovo.ru: Baltic Accent, 16 (2), 71–92. DOI: 10.5922/2225-5346-2025-2-4 (in Russ.).

17. Abraham W. (2018). Jean-Marie Zembs Phema-Begriff zwischen Informationsstruktur und Prädikationsstruktur. In: Diskursgrammatik – Grammaire du discourse. Hommage à Jean-Marie Zemb. Bd. 2. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, s. 131–157.

18. Chafe, W. L. (1976). Givenness, Contrastiveness, Definiteness, Subjects, Topics and Point of View. In: Subject and Topic. New York: Academic Press, pp. 27–55.

19. Diewald, G. (1991). Deixis und Textsorten im Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer.

20. Eroms, H.-W. (2018). Tertium datur: Die Entwicklung von Jean-Marie Zembs Satzkonzeption. In: Diskursgrammatik – Grammaire du discourse. Hommage à Jean-Marie Zemb. Bd. 2. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, s. 25–42.

21. Kotin, M. Sein. (2014). Eine genealogisch-typologische Fallstudie über das Verbum substantivum. In: Deutsche Sprache, 39, 1–52.

22. Leiss, E. (2017). Kodierung von Wissen und Erfahrung anhand von zwei unterschiedlichen Kopula- und Prädikatsqualitäten. In: Grammatische Funktionen aus Sicht der japanischen und deutschen Germanistik. Hamburg, s. 41–58.

23. Leiss, E. (2018). Das Phema bei Jean-Marie Zemb im Rahmen einer Theorie der Kopula. In: Diskursgrammatik – Grammaire du discourse. Hommage à Jean-Marie Zemb. Bd. 2. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, s. 57–69.

24. Lyons, J. (1983). Semantik. Bd. II. München: C. H. Beck Verlag.

25. Modicom, P.-Y. (2018). Die Geburt der Proposition aus dem Geiste der Prädikation: Spielarten des Phemas und Wesen der Proposition in einer reformierten Zemb-Grammatik. In: Diskursgrammatik – Grammaire du discourse. Hommage à Jean-Marie Zemb. Bd. 2. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, s. 71–84.

26. Mossém F. (1938). Histoire de la forme périphrastique être + participe présent en Germanique. Première partie: Introducton – ancien Germanique – vieil Anglais. Paris: Klincksieck.

27. Rizzi, L. (1997). The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery. Elements of Grammar: Handbook in Generative Syntax. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 381–338.

28. Socka, A. (2021). Satzadverbien und Modalverben als Marker der Reportativität im Deutschen und im Polnischen. Bd. 60. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

29. Zemb, J.-M. (1978). Vergleichende Grammatik Französisch-Deutsch. Teil 1: Comparaison de deux systèmes. Mannheim: Bibliografisches Institut Mannheim.

30. Zemb, J.-M. (1984). Vergleichende Grammatik Französisch-Deutsch. Teil 2: L’économie de la langue et le jeu de la parole. Mannheim: Bibliografisches Institut Mannheim.